


we're damned, after all

by Acadjonne



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Dave & Klaus Hargreeves During Vietnam, Lyrics from MCR's Mama appear within, M/M, Reference to Platoon (1986), Vietnam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22275745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acadjonne/pseuds/Acadjonne
Summary: We're damned, after allThrough fortune and flame, we fallAnd if you can stay, then I'll show you the wayTo return from the ashes you call
Relationships: Dave/Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	we're damned, after all

It’s not unusual for their unit to spend the night in one tent, drinking and playing cards, sometimes smoking. Dave remembers hearing Klaus say something about a platoon once, under his breath, as they entered the tent. A minute later, he loudly asked Stretch if he’d shotgun the smoke down the barrel of his gun for Klaus. Everyone got a laugh out of that one. 

Tonight, they’re singing songs like chorus girls, except they’re all terrible singers. They’ve got terrible voices, and they can’t stay in sync, or even keep on beat worth a damn. They enjoy it anyway, a piece of normalcy in the middle of a warzone. In the morning, they’re pushing further into enemy territory.

It started with Gerald Bullwhip, missing his fiancée back home, singing Heartache By The Numbers. Stretch joined in the chorus, and when Nicky started on The Wanderer, so did Walt and Jessup. Dave started them on Jingle, Jangle, Jingle next, and they kept going from there. Klaus is the only one who doesn’t sing along with them when they get to House of the Rising Sun.

“Spook’s gotta do one now,” Bullwhip insists, after their rendition ended in a fit of laughter at Scoresby’s expense, when Bernie tripped him. “He hasn’t sang with us all night, now it’s his turn.”

“No one wants to hear that, trust me,” says Klaus. He’s holding a smoke like it’s an extension of his hand, completely comfortable even as it burns closer and closer to his fingers. Nicky steals it from his fingers and takes a long drag. He doesn’t give it back to Klaus, who pouts dramatically at him. 

“C’mon, Hargreeves,” Jessup says, “serenade us.”

“In your dreams,” Klaus shoots back. They drop the subject.

Nicky starts dealing for poker, and they gather round the table, elbows bumping and shoulders shoving. Klaus very unceremoniously dumps himself into Dave’s lap, back pressing into Dave’s chest. He doesn’t take any cards of his own, instead watching Dave’s and whispering _terrible, very bad_ suggestions into Dave’s ear, every so often. Klaus is so bad at poker that they haven’t let him play in eight months.

Poker only goes for one game, before they switch to 31. They keep track of score with bullet casings instead of quarters, each starting with three casings. Klaus once again sits out. Nicky, for as good a dealer as he is, doesn’t have much of a head for numbers, and loses thrice, consecutively. He remains seated at the table to shuffle and deal after each subsequent round. Klaus remains firmly planted in Dave’s lap. He’d almost worry, except this is such a regular occurence that no one cares about it. It’s just a rule of card games. Nicky deals, Jessup whines that they cheat, and Klaus sits in Dave’s lap to watch.

When Dave is down to his final casing, Klaus leans further back, his chin brushing against Dave’s cheek. “And if you would call me your sweetheart,” he sings softly into Dave’s ear, “I’d maybe then sing you a song. But there’s shit that I’ve done with this fuck of a gun. You would cry out your eyes all along.”

Everyone stops what they’re doing, but Klaus doesn’t give any indication of noticing. His voice is soft and haunting, and his eyes look far away, lost somewhere else. “We’re _damned_ , after all. Through fortune and flame we fall, and if you could stay then I’d show you the way to return from the ashes you call. We all carry on, when our brothers in arms are gone. So, raise your glass high, for tomorrow we die and return from the ashes you call.”

Klaus gets up, and without saying anything else, leaves.

* * *

Within twenty four hours, Dave Katz is dead, and Klaus Hargreeves is missing. No one knows whether he’s MIA or if he’s gone AWOL, but it’s not like they’ve got an address to send that information to, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> this is just born from a thought i had about klaus having a really haunting singing voice, and wanting him to sing the ending of mama.
> 
> two of the characters in this are named from fallout npcs, three are named after various uncles, and two are named for golden compass characters.


End file.
